The winning side in the 1987 election that heralded South Korea ’s transition to democracy planned to use “dirty tricks”, including ballot tampering, to ensure its victory, newly declassified US intelligence shows, raising new questions about the integrity of the historic vote. Roh Tae-woo, the designated successor of military strongman Chun Doo-hwan, was elected as president of South Korea after bowing to public pressure to hold free elections and restore civil liberties after decades of US-backed dictatorship following the 1950-53 Korean war. But ahead of the landmark election, the military-backed ruling camp so feared the loss of its hand-picked candidate that it drew up detailed plans to fix the poll, according to CIA documents obtained exclusively by the South China Morning Post through a freedom of information request. “Officials in the ruling party are divided over Roh Tae-woo’s prospects, and pressure is building to fix the election,” the CIA assessed in an intelligence briefing written days ahead of the December 16 election, adding that a “plan for extensive fraud is already being implemented”. In another briefing, the US spy agency concluded that the ruling Democratic Justice Party, the only political party permitted to operate freely for much of Chun’s eight-year rule, was “increasingly nervous about Roh’s chances in a non-controlled election” due to his negative association with the military dictatorship among the public. “As a result, they are considering black propaganda and dirty tricks, reportedly to include ballot tampering; some officials now appear prepared to go even further,” a briefing dated November 23 said, citing a source who claimed “ruling-camp planners have thought about fabricating evidence of ruling-party fraud to give Chun an opportunity to declare the election null and void if government projections from early returns indicate Roh is losing”. The Post attempted to contact Roh through an aide of his brother-in-law, former lawmaker Park Chul-un, but was told the ex-president left politics years ago and had no comment. Newly declassified US Central Intelligence Agency documents reveal machinations behind the 1987 South Korea election. Tim Shorrock, a journalist and author on national security issues who covered the election, said the documents suggested the US intelligence establishment saw Roh as the best choice at the time. Explained: how the Korean peninsula was divided “That it would only note these tactics and refrain from using the information to undermine the ‘ruling camp’ itself shows favouritism,” said Shorrock. “Imagine what a revelation like this would have on public opinion in both the US and South Korea if it was leaked to, say, The New York Times .” The documents also show that the South Korean government was prepared to crack down hard on any unrest following the vote, with an intelligence briefing stating that an “open arrest order” had been prepared for opposition candidate Kim Dae-jung – who would go on to win the presidency and be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for pursuing rapprochement with North Korea – if he tried to “instigate a popular revolt against the election results”. The briefing, dated December 11, said that government officials had discussed “contingency plans for martial law or more limited emergency measures should widespread unrest follow Roh’s victory” and “a move to crack down could come as early as this afternoon”. Shorrock said the extent of US knowledge was “extraordinary information for any intelligence agency to have about another country’s senior leadership”. It is unclear to what extent the ruling camp followed through on its plans to cheat in the election, in which Roh secured 37 per cent of the vote, compared to 28 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively, for rival opposition leaders Kim Yong-sam and Kim Dae-jung. South Korea’s spy agency admits trying to influence 2012 election The election was widely accepted as legitimate by the South Korean public at the time due to the size of Roh’s win, and came to be seen as the start of the country’s democratic era. Although opposition figures levelled accusations of cheating at the time, international election monitors did not report widespread irregularities, and the two Kims ended up shouldering much of the blame for Roh’s victory due to their failure to put forward a unified liberal candidacy. “There was a view that had the Kims united the government would still have fiddled the result but the feeling was what the Kims had done made it unnecessary and that crying foul was a distraction to their having placed personal ambition over democracy,” said Michael Breen, who covered the election for The Guardian and The Washington Times . US intelligence officials drew similar conclusions. In a briefing written days after the election, the CIA said the “restrained public reaction” to Roh’s victory suggested South Koreans would be unwilling to challenge the outcome. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook